


Lack of a Mark

by TwinVax



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Familial Soulmates, Gen, Multi, Romantic Soulmates, Scanlan gets surprised by this every time, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 15:37:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11970399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwinVax/pseuds/TwinVax
Summary: Scanlan doesn't have a soulmate, until he has seven.





	Lack of a Mark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Enderon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enderon/gifts).



Scanlan doesn’t have a soulmate.

this fact has never bothered him, not all that much anyway. So he has no initials on his skin that could tell him who he will love and care for, romantically or familial. He doesn’t care all that much, he has magic to pretend he does if that need arises, though no one cares or ever asks.

He knows most people get them young, somewhere in their early teens or close to it in their respective race’s age category. It’s a mess and he has no idea or want to figure out ages and things for every race. He knows it usually means their soulmate has been born, unless of course a person was born with someone’s initials already on their skin, in which case they were born after their soulmate. Usually that means a few years to a few hours difference between them.

A soulmates initials were also able to disappear, like Scanlans’ had, when the owner of the initials dies. The only mark he ever had since he was a baby had been erased from where it had been written, on his hand, when he lost his mother.

He has no marks, but everyone else does, so he makes jokes about it when he can. The troupe he joins doesn’t judge him, and the ladies he spends time with don’t care so long as he pays, and that’s good enough for him.

He notices something strange one day however, while he puts his hair up in front of a mirror. Beside the bit of charcoal he has that curls near the outside of his left eye, there’s something black above it; near his temple. Identical letters are on both his temples actually, which is strange in itself.

Both of them are the initials ‘VV’, but while one is small flowing script, the other is a bit blocky.

He knows, of course being a well traveled bard, its possible to have more then one soulmate. It’s usually in cases of family members, and different names instead of one person showing up twice. He has no idea what it means to have the same initials twice, even if they are both written differently.

It doesn’t help shit when he finds a 'K’ initial on his neck without a second letter signifying a last name.

The Gods are probably fucking him over with this, but he cant bring himself to care. He can figure it out if he ever meets these people. He isn’t sure he ever will, if they are even real.

It sure explains why the troupe had been looking at him so weird for the past couple of weeks at least. He wonders briefly how long the initials had existed before anyone had even taken notice.

He cant help how befuddled he is years later, when he assumes his soulmate is somewhere around the age of a teenager, the 'VV’s’ both are replaced with a 'Va’ and a ’Ve’. Nothing he has ever read or heard about soulmates ever covered what has just happened.

Three other initials appear soon after the others. The one on his bicep is hard to read, near completely indecipherable, but he manages to figure out its supposed to be a 'GS’. It looks more like a white tattoo then actual letters. One of the others is actually in small gnomish cursive, written on his left leg, so he figures rather quickly that whoever has the initials 'PT’ is also a gnome. Its kind of nice to know that, in a way.

The initials 'TS’ show themselves in large bold letters on his back, colored red instead of the standard black found in most races.

Years from this moment, he wont notice the red mark to be gone from his body until its already to late to say goodbye or try to help the person it belongs to. He will do the next best thing as a way to remember the person though.

His body is a beautiful masterpiece, marked in multiple places with the initials of more then one soulmate. Its frankly ridiculous to him how he could ever find any of them, much less find a way to love and care for them all.

Finding 'PFVMKdRIII’ that flows across his right arm in Common script and just peaks out of his sleeve, a few years after he figures he is finished getting soulmates, sends him into a complete laughing fit that makes him leave the troupe for awhile. He has a noble soulmate and he doesn’t believe that for a second, so he takes time off from being with a group to go at it alone.

His complete lack of conviction in anything currently making sense in his life at that moment means he doesn’t notice the 'KS’ initials in gnomish that finds its way to his chest, right where his tunic splits before the fabric becomes a collar. He wont notice until after a sword is pointed right at it, poised to kill him as he refuses to fight his blood.

Someday Scanlan finds his soulmates, some together, others at different times. There are varying levels of romance to most of them that they all eventually figure out together, even though its less about romance and more to do with being whole together and love, while one is as close to the same familial soulmate relationship he used to have with his mother.

He has soulmates, and he loves all of them. That’s all that really matters, no matter what sort of difference in relationship he has with them.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written on my tumblr as a christmas gift, now just me publishing it late on ao3. Enjoy.


End file.
